Paper Talk
Tottenham ready to take huge loss on Roberto Soldado as they open talks Villarreal over £11million move.
Enner Valencia could be sidelined until Christmas as Charlie Austin leads West Ham striker shortlist.
Roberto Martinez pledges to keep John Stones from Chelsea's clutches
Liverpool starlet Sheyi Ojo set to join Wolves on season-long loan deal
Newcastle's Fabricio Coloccini tells boss Steve McClaren he wants to stay for the rest of his career.
Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood aware he faces "tough" challenge to get his new-look side to gel.
Middlesbrough's Lee Tomlin trying to force Premier League move with Bournemouth and Norwich on alert.
Manchester City face a battle to hang on to highly-rated 19-year-old midfielder Marcos Lopes, with Marseille, Monaco and Lyon all interested in the Portuguese starlet.
Antolin Alcaraz has put pen to paper on a one-year deal at La Liga new boys Las Palmas following his release from Everton.
Angel di Maria jetted into Qatar last night for a medical ahead of his £44million move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Wolfsburg star Kevin De Bruyne admits it will be seriously tempting to return to England when Manchester City come calling.
Manchester United have offered 30-year-old winger Ashley Young, who has one year left on his current contract, a new three-year deal.
United are also on the verge of selling Angel Di Maria to Paris St-Germain for around £44.5m and will use £22m of the proceeds to buy Pedro from Barcelona.
Liverpool are reportedly ready to let youngster Sheyi Ojo go out on a season-long loan.
Fabricio Colocinni has told manager Steve McClaren he wants to stay at Newcastle United for the rest of his career.
Arsenal have reportedly beaten Manchester United to the signing of teenage goalkeeper Joao Virginia.
Former Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov has confirmed that free agent Dimitar Berbatov is in talks to join the Premier League club.
Manchester United star Michael Carrick has reportedly rejected a move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Roberto Martinez claims Everton are 'not a selling club' as he tries to keep John Stones from Chelsea.
Kevin de Bruyne claims he would find it hard to turn down a move to a club like Manchester City.
Liverpool are looking to make a £14.9million bid for Real Madrid winger Denis Cheryshev.
BBC
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has dismissed reports linking Real Madrid's 27-year-old striker Karim Benzema with a move to the club. (Evening Standard)
However, according to (AS), Wenger has set aside £45.6m to bring the French international to London.
The Gunners have beaten Manchester United to the signing of Benfica's 15-year-old goalkeeper Joao Virginia. (Metro)
Wolfsburg boss Dieter Hecking believes midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, 24, will snub an approach from Manchester City. (Manchester Evening News)
But the Belgium international has said a move to the Etihad could be too good to turn down. (Sun - subscription required)
Manchester City face a battle to hang on to highly-rated midfielder Marcos Lopes, 19, with Marseille, Monaco and Lyon all interested in the Portuguese starlet. (Daily Mail)
Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat hopes to sign Rubin Kazan midfielder Yann M'Vila, 25, and take QPR's 25-year-old midfielder Leroy Fer on a season-long loan. (Guardian)
Manchester United have offered 30-year-old winger Ashley Young a new three-year deal. The Englishman has one year remaining on his current contract. (Daily Star)
And United's Brazilian defender Rafael Da Silva, 25, is set to finalise a £2.1m move to Lyon. (Times - subscription required)
Tottenham are ready to take a £15m loss on 30-year-old striker Roberto Soldado after opening talks with Villarreal over a £11m move. (Daily Mirror)
Liverpool are looking to make a £14.9m bid for Real Madrid's 24-year-old winger Denis Cheryshev. (Daily Telegraph)
New Southampton midfielder Jordy Clasie, 24, has revealed his mum left him and his brother when he was aged just 10. (Sun - subscription required)
Everton manager Roberto Martinez is confident of holding on to centre-back John Stones, 21, who has been the subject of a bid from Premier League champions Chelsea. (Liverpool Echo)
Atalanta defender Yohan Benalouane, 28, has confirmed he has agreed to join Leicester City in a £5.6m move. (Bergamo Post - in Italian)
West Ham co-owner David Gold says the club hope to make two more signings in the transfer window; one being 27-year-old midfielder Alex Song and the other a replacement for the injured forward Enner Valencia, 25. (Evening Standard)
The Hammers are pursuing Atletico Madrid forward Raul Jimenez, but are waiting on news of a work permit for the 24-year-old Mexican. (Telegraph)
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew says he hopes the club can finalise a deal for Sunderland's 22-year-old striker Connor Wickham. (Croydon Advertiser)
Swansea manager Garry Monk says they are still trying to come to an agreement for 29-year-old forward Michu to leave the club. (South Wales Evening Post)
Borussia Monchengladbach boss Lucien Favre has hailed Newcastle's appointment of Steve McClaren, saying the Englishman is a "very good" head coach. (Newcastle Chronicle)
The Newcastle boss is unwilling to sell defender Fabricio Coloccini, 33, despite interest from former Magpies boss Alan Pardew at Crystal Palace. (Shields Gazette)
Aston Villa defender Ciaran Clark, 25, will be offered a new contract to ward off interest from rivals West Brom. (Birmingham Mail)
Middlesbrough forward Lee Tomlin is training on his own after trying to force a move to the Premier League, with Bournemouth and Norwich City interested in the 26-year-old. (Mirror)
Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross, 27, will see a specialist to find out whether he needs to have an operation on his back. (Stoke Sentinel)
Championship side Fulham will sign 24-year-old striker Dwight Gayle on loan from Crystal Palace this week. (Daily Mirror)
Middlesbrough are lining up an improved £14m bid for Blackburn's 25-year-old striker Jordan Rhodes, having already had a £12m offer rejected. (Daily Mail)
Barcelona midfielder Lionel Messi has been criticised by the Human Rights Foundation for making a visit to Gabon. (Human Rights Foundation)
Former Chelsea and Manchester City midfielder Frank Lampard, 37, has said he is not yet fit enough to show his best form at New York City. (Sky Sports)
And finally...
Cristiano Ronaldo had a pretty good wedding present for his agent Jorge Mendes - he bought him a Greek island. (Eurosport)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Barry Glendenning
Almost two years to the day since Spanish striker Roberto Soldado became Tottenham’s club record £26m signing, the club are preparing to offload the 30-year-old for less than half that amount. Soldado surfed into White Hart Lane on a point break of optimism, his confidence soaring on the back of 30 goals he’d scored for Valencia in the previous season. Now look at the poor sod; two years and just seven league goals later, Soldado is on the verge of returning to the south-east coast of Spain, where Villarreal are believed to have tabled a bid of £11m to secure his services. In the event of his departure from Spurs, he will become the fourth of seven players signed in the wake of Gareth Bale’s departure to Real Madrid to be offloaded this summer, following in the footsteps of Vlad Chiriches, Etienne Capoue and Paulinho, who have already been ushered towards the exit door.
Spanish newspaper Sport has reported that Real Madrid’s Russian winger Denis Cheryshev has been deemed surplus to requirements at the Bernabéu, where he is admired but firmly behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in the pecking order. Having decided the 24-year-old from Nizhny Novgorod would be a good fit for the Raheem Sterling-shaped hole left in their squad this summer, Liverpool’s famous transfer committee have consulted the minutes of their last meeting to confirm they agreed to bid the thick end of £15m for Cheryshev. Arsenal have also been linked with player, who impressed on a loan spell at Villarreal last season.
With new signing Jeremain Lens having opened his account in a pre-season friendly against Hannover on Saturday, his manager Dick Advocaat is ready to dabble further in the transfer market by bringing Ruben Kazan’s French midfielder Yann M’Vila to Sunderland. M’Vila will undergo a medical in the north-east today, while his fellow midfielder Leroy Fer, formerly of Norwich and now at QPR, is also expected to arrive in a season-long loan as he attempts to pull off the extraordinary achievement of securing three successive relegations from the Premier League with three different clubs. With striker Connor Wickham almost certain to join Crystal Palace, Sunderland have also been linked with Alexandre Pato, who has been quietly impressing at Sao Paulo on loan from Corinthians after falling off the radar in the wake of his departure from an injury-punctuated spell at AC Milan.
In considerably less samba-flavoured Sunderland speculation, the club have also expressed an interest in bringing Jordan Rhodes to Wearside and will be mindful of the fact that their neighbours in nearby Middlesbrough have already had a £12m offer for the Blackburn striker rejected. Boro are rumoured to be lining up an increased bid of £14m.
Having been omitted from Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United pre-season tour squad, Rafael is just a couple of coughs for the doctor away from concluding a £2.1m move to Ligue 1 side Lyon after his seven years at Old Trafford. Elsewhere in the north-west of England, Everton are monitoring Liverpool’s pursuit of Barcelona winger Adama Traore. Barcelona are understood to want Philippe Coutinho as part of the deal and should Liverpool fail to include him, Everton may hijack their efforts to prise the 19-year-old away from Camp Nou.
Arsène Wenger was quick to bluntly dismiss talk of Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema coming to the Emirates after his side’s Community Shield win yesterday, despite reports in the Spanish press that he’s already counted out £45.6m in used fifties to cover the cost of the 26 year old French striker.
Having gone missing in action last week, sparking an amusing global manhunt conducted by various concerned citizens, Manchester United winger Angel Di Maria has been spotted in Doha, where he will undergo a medical before finally signing for Paris Saint-Germain. In other sheikh-owned rich club news, Manchester City suits will be displeased to hear that Wolfsburg manager Dieter Hecking thinks Kevin de Bruyne is uninterested in going to the Etihad, even if the player has intimated that a move to City could be too good to turn down.
Atalanta’s Tunisian defender Yohan Benalouane has told the Bergamo Post that he’s off to Leicester City for £5.6m, but revealed the only reason he left the Serie A club is because it was too much money for them to turn down. “I left the training camp in tears on Friday, because I really care for everyone,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave Atalanta and would gladly have stayed, but an offer of €8m is a lot for a club like Atalanta.” Leicester’s attempts to sign Chilean international defender Charles Aranguiz from Internacional for £10.6m have been less successful, as the 26-year-old is holding out for a move to Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.
Crystal Palace striker Dwight Gayle will be farmed out on loan to Championship side Fulham, while his manager Alan Pardew’s attempts to sign Fabricio Coloccini from Newcastle are being thwarted by his former employers unwillingness to sell the Argentinian. Or sell the Argentinian to a club managed by Alan Pardew.
And finally, West Ham have identified Atlético Madrid striker Raúl Jiménez as a potential replacement for the injured Enner Valencia, but could face competition for the Mexican’s services from Swansea City now that Bafetimbi Gomis is once again rumoured to be agitating for a move elsewhere.
Mail
West Ham 1-2 Werder Bremen: Anthony Ujah strikes twice as Slaven Bilic's side fall in final friendly before facing Arsenal
West Ham's Diafra Sakho opened the scoring for the hosts on 19 minutes
Anthony Ujah equalised for Werder Bremen one minute later
The Nigerian claimed the lead for his side in the 31st minutes
West Ham face Arsenal away in their Premier League opener on Sunday
By Michael Gadd
West Ham go into their Premier League opener against Arsenal on the back foot after failing to overcome Germany’s Werder Bremen in their final pre-season match.
Following their disastrous 2-2 draw against Romania’s Astra Giurgiu in Europa League qualifying, the Hammers led for just one minute of the match after Diafra Sakho’s opener was cancelled out immediately by Anthony Ujah.
It was Ujah again 11 minutes later who provided what would be the winner for the 10th placed side in last year's Bundesliga.
Diafra Sakho slides as he scores West Ham's opener in their friendly on Sunday at Upton Park
Hammers players celebrate with Sakho (second left) after the Senegalese striker met Dimitri Payet's cross
West Ham started with intent, controlling the majority of the play and earning the better of the chances with Dimitri Payet most threatening from both the set-piece and open play.
On 15 minutes Felix Kroos, the 24-year-old brother of Real Madrid’s Toni, got a sniff from 20 yards for the visitors but was blocked well by Reece Oxford.
But when Sakho got on the end of Payet’s cross from the right side on 19 minutes the hosts took a deserved lead.
It was blown a minute later though with a 25-yard strike from Anthony Ujah, a handful throughout, that Adrian will be disappointed not to have denied.
There was no good fortune required for Nigerian Ujah’s second on 31 minutes, as he took a touch to beat Hammers defender James Tomkins and flashed his shot across the goal beyond Adrian.
A subdued second half followed the break with chances few and far between as both sides struggled to find rhythm among the customary raft of changes that come in these fixtures.
Now the Hammers go into their first challenge of the Premier League season against the Community Shield champions on Sunday with little reason for confidence after limping past Malta's Birkirkara, needing penalties to overcome the minnows, and the horror show 2-2 at home to Astra.
HITC
West Ham appeal work permit ruling after agreeing Raul Jimenez deal
West Ham are reportedly in a battle to sign striker Raul Jimenez.
Olly Dawes
According to The Sun, West Ham are appealing Raul Jimenez's work permit ruling, with the Atletico Madrid striker's move to Upton Park in doubt.
The Hammers have been busy in the transfer market this summer, but they are yet to add a new striker to their ranks - and with Andy Carroll and Enner Valencia both ruled out with injuries, new manager Slaven Bilic is in desperate need of a new striker ahead of the Premier League season.
The opening game of the season against Arsenal is just days away, and the Hammers are now in a race against time to land their top target.
The Sun report that West Ham have agreed a season-long loan deal for Atletico Madrid hitman Jimenez, with a £1.4m fee involved in the deal taking him to Upton Park.
However, the report also states that, despite Jimenez now being a regular for the Mexican national team, new guidelines implemented by The FA mean that the 24-year-old will not qualify for a work permit - and West Ham are challenging that decision.
It's unclear how long it will take to reach a new outcome, but West Ham's move for Jimenez is now in jeopardy, which could force Bilic to look elsewhere.
Jimenez may have only scored one goal in 27 games for Atletico, but his record of 39 goals in 102 games for Club America and eight in 36 caps for Mexico suggest that he is better than his Atletico record states.
With height, power and aerial ability, Jimenez could be the ideal centre forward for West Ham whilst Carroll is sidelined, whilst his above-average speed would also offer something that Carroll doesn't.
A deal may now be difficult, but West Ham are keen to push the move through, suggesting that they have every confidence that Jimenez can be a success in the Premier League; all they need now is clearance from The FA to complete the deal.
C&H
Reid back in the frame
Winston Reid is set to be fit for the opening Premier League season at Arsenal next Sunday.
The Kiwi has been missing from recent games after picking up a knock in training and has missed several pre season games as a result.
But coach Julian Dicks has reported he’s ready to start training which is great news for Slaven Bilic whose central defensive pairing preference looks likely to be him and Angel Ogbonna.
There’s an outside chance that with With James Collins and James Tomkins suspended in Europe, Reid could be drafted into the team for the second leg Europa Cup clash against FC Astra on Thursday night.
However, boss Bilic may well decide to ‘mix and match’ in Romania and make Arsenal a clear priority.
HITC
West Ham pursuing another Serie A raid, Kalidou Koulibaly targeted
West Ham are reportedly eyeing Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly.
Olly Dawes
According to a report from Tutto Mercato Web, West Ham United are interested in signing Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly, amid interest from elsewhere.
The Hammers have raided Serie A twice already this summer to sign Juventus defender Angelo Ogbonna and Sampdoria midfielder Pedro Obiang, and could now make a third move for a player from Italian football in Koulibaly.
The 24-year-old, who joined Napoli from Belgian side Genk last summer, played 27 games last season under Rafael Benitez, but his future could now be in doubt.
Napoli, under new boss Maurizio Sarri, have just signed Tottenham defender Vlad Chiriches, which could push Kouliably down the pecking order at the Stadio San Paolo.
As a result, it appears that teams are looking to land Kouliably this summer, with TMW reporting that West Ham joined Premier League rivals Everton in the race to sign the utility man.
The 6ft 5in Frenchman primarily played at centre back for Napoli, but has also played in defensive midfield for previous clubs - an area West Ham are looking to strengthen having seen loan star Alex Song return to Barcelona at the end of last season.
A physically dominant player with impressive speed to complement his exceptional strength, Koulibaly could be a versatile option for West Ham given his ability to play in defence and in midfield.
They aren't the only team pursuing him, but having already snapped up two Serie A stars this summer, Slaven Bilic's men may feel confident that they can land a third in Koulibaly this summer.
Sport Witness
West Ham make £5m offer to buy 19 year old, deal likely
Catalan newspaper Sport have reported that West Ham United are close to completing a deal to sign Alen Halilovic from Barcelona. Sport explain that Barcelona are being forced to sell Halilovic because of a clause in his contract. When the player joined from Dinamo Zagreb last summer he had it written into his deal that he'd be part of the first team squad from this summer onwards.
Barcelona B were relegated last season and so there's little chance the Croatian youngster would waive that clause, and therefore the Catalan media expect Halilovic to be leaving the club soon. He didn't greatly impress for Barcelona B in a difficult season for the second string and at times Halilovic showed a bit of a diva attitude, stropping at being brought off as a substitute.
Halilovic is undoubtedly talented, hence Barcelona buying him in the first place, but it's the application of that talent and using it to benefit a team which could cause issue. Sport say that West Ham have bid €7.5m for the player, which works out to be around £5m. Barcelona would have a buyback option in the deal of €10m which they could activate next summer.
It would surely be a gamble by West Ham but new manager Slaven Bilic will believe he can get the most out of his countryman and help Halilovic fulfil his talent, it's going to be difficult in the Premier League.
